11 Great Late-Summer Wines Under $25

Summer is winding down, but your corkscrew will be heating up as you sip your way from Washington State and Napa to Spain and New Zealand with these value picks. Each resolutely over-delivers in taste for the price.

Taste: Soft and silky with a touch of toast and vanilla, ripe raspberries, blackberries and violets. Juicy and zippy acidity.
Drink It With: Spanish-style tapas with your future significant other-type person.
Factoid: These old-vine Garnacha (Grenache) grapes are grown at 2,100 feet, hand-harvested and offer superb value. If these grapes grew in Napa at the same elevation, the price would easily triple.

Taste: Rich and creamy with nice weight. Citrus notes are buffered by pineapple and pear. Good acidic backbone and a long finish.
Drink It With: Lobster, crab and buttery cheeses.
Factoid: Better idea: Sipping on Russian River Chard all night rather than Russian vodka (always in hindsight, of course).

Taste: A Sauvignon Blanc with gravitas and a weighty mouthfeel. Fresh and bright tropical fruit notes mingle with yellow floral aromas.
Drink It With: That swansong BBQ or a spicy arugula salad.
Factoid: The grapes for this wine are grown in Marlborough’s “Golden Mile,” a strip of vineyards along an ancient riverbed of round, light-colored stones.

Taste: Native fermentation, aged sur lie in natural French oak for six months “like kitten kisses and a honeycrisp lollipop while riding a homecoming float.”
Drink It With: Your number one priority of trash-talking your outdoor sport opponents.
Factoid: Winemakers love to play bocce. Gabrielle Shaffer and Adam McClary, the duo behind this wine, are no exception—though bocce is actually priority number two.

Taste: A delicious rich and weighty saké, loaded with ripe melon and pear with undercurrents of earth and red spice character.
Drink It With: Sip chilled, in a wine glass on its own, or pair with pizza or funky cheeses.
Factoid: A saké from Oregon? You bet, with a brewery and tasting room located just west of Portland, Oregon in the Willamette Valley wine country.

2012 Domaine du Bagnol Cassis Blanc ($22)

Taste: A blend of Marsanne, Clairette and Ugni Blanc brings fragrant white floral notes, and round texture with melon and honeydew on the palate.
Drink It With: Great as an aperitif or with pork loin and classic seafood dishes.
Factoid: White wines from the tiny town of Cassis in the south of France are fairly rare. Grapes grow so close to the ocean they are practically beach bums.

Taste: A classic refined, full-bodied vibrant red, with eucalyptus on the nose and robust red berry and licorice mingling with earth on a lengthy finish.
Drink It With: With heartier fare, and Julia Child’s Poulet au Porto.
Factoid: Not the pied-à-terre you were hoping to own, but at least one that is actually affordable.